Gay Woman Leaves Gendered Uniforms & Homophobic Colleagues Behind for a More Welcoming Workplace. [Video]

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Leoni Terblanche enjoyed working on cruise lines except for one significant thing: as a woman, she had to wear skirts – even in the winter – instead of pants, which were her preference. These misogynistic rules would eventually compel her to leave the industry, relocate to the United States and find a more welcoming and accepting environment in tech retail. Following another career change into finance, however, she experienced the opposite – unmistakable homophobia coming from a colleague. Once again faced with a hostile work environment, Leoni realized she wouldn’t be able to truly be comfortable andpassionate about her job if she couldn’t be herself. Without giving it a second thought, she returned back to her “forever home” – tech retail – where she would not only be supported and inspired, but celebrated.

Transcript provided by YouTube:

0:00
[Music]
0:00
foreign
0:06
from Pretoria South Africa ever since I
0:09
remember when I was a child my mom put
0:11
me in dresses until age six where I
0:14
started making my own decisions
0:17
and I just wore pants for me it always
0:20
was important to be comfortable to feel
0:22
comfortable to feel myself fast
0:24
forwarding into into my adult life I ran
0:27
into a situation at work once where I
0:31
really loved what I was doing I loved my
0:33
job I was an assistant maitre d on
0:35
cruise lines and I did it for a very
0:37
long time for six years but there was
0:40
something that held me back where I
0:43
couldn’t be myself
0:45
it was the uniform the uniform really
0:47
bothered me and
0:50
at some point I I did ask the manager if
0:54
uh if we could change our uniforms the
0:57
girls could wear pants we had to wear
0:59
skirts this is 2014 and he said
1:03
absolutely no girls wear skirts I
1:06
realized that the manager would not
1:08
change his mind and it was a hard no
1:10
there was nothing up for discussion and
1:14
I was still stuck wearing my skirt every
1:16
day I did a good job I I did it but I
1:21
still just didn’t feel myself I decided
1:24
to finish another contract I in
1:27
Antarctica and it was really cold and we
1:29
still had to wear skirts after that
1:32
contract I decided to not sign up for
1:34
another contract and I moved to New York
1:37
City I was able to thrive discovering
1:40
this beautiful diverse and inclusive
1:42
culture that we have over here I met
1:46
with my beautiful wife that we married
1:49
that I married I was able to find jobs
1:52
what did did I did I love where I can
1:55
wear what I want I I started working for
1:58
a tech company which really made me feel
2:02
myself and where I belong I was living
2:05
in New York now about two years and I
2:08
decided to get another degree I went
2:11
back to school I studied Finance
2:15
and after working for the tech company
2:17
for a few years I I thought I’m
2:20
transitioning into into the finance
2:22
world I went to work in a bank
2:25
I was really excited I I left my my old
2:29
job I started
2:31
um until one day
2:33
where
2:35
a customer slipped a note under my
2:38
dollar window and at first I was scared
2:42
as you can imagine immediately I didn’t
2:45
know what to do until I turned out
2:47
turned over the note I read the note and
2:51
it said
2:52
he doesn’t like you with a weird face
2:56
smiley face I confronted the customer
2:58
and I asked him if he could explain to
3:01
me what the note means because I was a
3:03
little confused he said uh he said that
3:06
he overheard my colleague
3:09
um
3:10
doesn’t like me because of my sexual
3:13
orientation immediately I wanted to go
3:15
home I didn’t know I just know I didn’t
3:18
want to be there anymore I didn’t want
3:20
to be around my colleagues anymore I
3:22
didn’t want to come back to work I
3:23
didn’t approach my supervisor because I
3:26
didn’t think it’s going to really make a
3:28
difference
3:29
and I didn’t approach my supervisor
3:32
because
3:33
in that way it’s just going to make me
3:35
feel more unwelcome and now I need to
3:37
relive it and explain it to somebody
3:40
else instead I looked for a new job I
3:44
applied every day
3:46
to go back to into the tech world go
3:48
back into where I felt comfortable it
3:51
took me about six months to get back and
3:54
finally I found my forever home again
3:57
where where it is a place where I feel
4:00
welcome where I feel
4:02
included and where I’m surrounded with
4:06
people that care and the people that
4:08
think like me
4:10
and um I’m I’m happy that
4:14
I’m back there and now I’m working with
4:16
colleagues that understand me colleagues
4:19
that
4:20
um inspire me I’m back where I feel
4:22
welcome and included
4:25
and celebrated by all my colleagues and
4:28
we are wearing
4:29
any pants that we want if you don’t feel
4:33
welcome or yourself
4:34
you’re not going to be able to do a
4:37
great job you’re not going to be
4:38
passionate
4:40
and that’s the only way for me to be
4:42
passionate is to feel myself
4:45
peace

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This post was previously published on YouTube.

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